NEW YORK—When Loews Hotels & Resorts unveiled a partnership with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) last month, it underscored two realities facing travelers today: Concerns about a terrorist attack on U.S. soil remain high and, consequently, security precautions at U.S. airports are going to remain time-consuming and even inconvenient for many travelers.
To help on both fronts, Loews has become the first hotel company to partner with DHS in signing up travelers for the DHS’ Global Entry Program, designed to expedite the security screening process at airports.
Effective immediately, Loews is offering platinum-level members of its YouFirst guest loyalty program complimentary enrollment in the program. “We’re starting off the partnership by incurring the cost of the $100 application fee for platinum members, who are our most loyal guests,” explained Loews President & CEO Paul Whetsell, speaking at the launch event for the Loews-DHS partnership, which was held at Loews’ flagship Regency Hotel, here.
YouFirst has roughly 2,500 platinum-level members. They have 60 days to accept the one-time offer. Enrollment can be done online. Whetsell said he and Loews Chairman, Jonathan Tisch, hopes to be able to extend the program to other Loews guests in the months to come.
“Unlike hotel companies like Marriott or Hilton, which are much larger—and whose loyalty programs are correspondingly much larger—we’re a relatively small company, which makes it possible for us to offer something like this,” Whetsell added. Loews currently has 18 upscale and upper upscale hotels in its portfolio in the U.S. and Canada.
Signing up for Global Entry is totally voluntary. Once the traveler has agreed
to sign up, Loews is no longer involved. Loews provides no information about the traveler to DHS.
The Global Entry Program is part of the DHS’ U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) office. With a Global Entry membership, U.S. citizens are also able to get expedited screening through the DHS’ Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and its PreCheck program. Both Global Entry and the TSA PreCheck are part of the DHS’ Trusted Traveler Network.
“Partnerships are integral to the way we do business as a brand,” noted Tisch. Most guests at a hotel chain like Loews arrive at their destination by airplane, so it’s important to the hotel that the screening process be as hassle-free as possible. In this sense, air travel is part of the hospitality experience.
“With this latest collaboration, we’re highlighting the importance of the public and private sectors working to improve hospitality for all our guests, whether that be at our hotels or traveling through an airport,” Tisch said, adding that he thought other hotel companies would soon come on board in offering to facilitate their guests signing up for Global Entry.
Napolitano speaks
Secretary of DHS Janet Napolitano and CBP deputy commissioner David Aguilar spoke at the launch event with Whetsell and Tisch. Napolitano thanked Loews for choosing to partner with DHS on Global Entry and encouraged other industry groups to help travelers sign up.
“The more travelers who can be pre-screened to participate in programs like Global Entry and TSA PreCheck, the better,” she said, “because it means we can then allot more resources to screening other segments of the traveling public that we know less about,” Napolitano noted.
Speaking of the TSA PreCheck program specifically, Aguilar confirmed that the pre-screening has proven successful to date and is presently being expanded to more airports across the country.
“At Loews, we want to provide our guests with a better travel experience, not only when they walk in the front door, but from the point they start planning their trip—and that includes the airport,” Tisch said.